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Panel and patients back S.863 to expand non‑opioid chronic pain care for MassHealth members
Summary
A panel of clinicians and patients told the Joint Committee that S.863 would expand care coordination, provider training and access to non‑opioid medications for people with chronic pain on MassHealth; advocates also called for improved data collection on prevalence and costs.
The Joint Committee on Health Care Financing heard a panel on S.863, “An act relative to non‑opioid options for chronic pain,” that advocates say would improve care coordination and access for MassHealth members living with persistent pain.
Cindy Steinberg, policy council chair of the Massachusetts Pain Initiative, told the committee the bill addresses gaps in treatment, stigma, and access. She said the measure would help MassHealth members by “providing care coordination and support to help members access appropriate providers and specialists, social work services and education from chronic pain management for patients,” and by collecting data to measure scope and cost.
Nurse practitioner Jackie Nathan, a pain‑management clinician and Massachusetts Pain Initiative board member, described chronic pain as a complex disease and said primary care providers are often “inadequately trained to manage pain.” She told the committee the bill’s provider education and multidisciplinary care provisions aim to expand the workforce able to manage persistent pain.
Panelists and patient witnesses described long diagnostic odysseys and insurance barriers. Amanda Boda said she was diagnosed with juvenile‑onset rheumatoid arthritis at age 10 and that it took “22 years, and over a dozen different general practitioners, rheumatologists, and more to find a team of clinicians who understood that I was in pain all the time.” Rebecca West described repeated stigma and trauma tied to delayed or denied care.
S.863 would, according to witnesses, prohibit insurers from placing tighter controls on some non‑opioid medications than are applied to opioids, expand training for primary care clinicians, provide social supports such as transportation, and require statewide data collection on chronic pain prevalence and service utilization.
Senator Becca Fernandez, who later described filing a related bill (S.683), said the legislation is “grounded [in] empathy, science, and lived experience” and emphasized the need for alternatives to opioids while acknowledging the continued role opioids can play for some patients.
Committee notes: No formal committee votes were recorded. Witnesses urged clearer coverage rules, better provider training, and data collection so policymakers could target services and measure program costs and benefits.
